Tommy Mapother was a scrawny 5’7″ kid.
He was a below-average wrestler at Glen Ridge High School in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, who desperately wanted to play football.
So little Tommy came to ask his mom before sophomore year.
Her answer was immediate. “No.”
She was terrified he’d get badly injured.
The same scene played out a year later, before junior year.
Again, Mom’s answer was the same. “No, Tommy.”
So Tommy worked hard to become a better wrestler, since he at least enjoyed that.
And he did. Coach Corbo (his wrestling coach) even had high hopes for him going into his senior year.
But Tommy still came to plead with his mom one final time to go out for the football team. You can imagine how that went…
“Mom, it’s senior year. It’s my last chance to play football. You gotta let me at least try out!”
I don’t know what he said exactly, but I do know that he touched somewhere deep inside his mom.
She relented and let him go out for the team.
Guess what?
He made the team!
Unfortunately, Tommy got kicked off the team for drinking a beer before the game. He wasn’t the only one, but he was the only one who got caught.
And when we went to train for wrestling again, he tore a ligament in his ankle running down the stairs.
Tommy was devastated.
No more wrestling or football.
In senior year!
What to do??
After huge hesitation, he auditioned for the lead part in Guys and Dolls. That took a lot of nudging from friends, since he had little confidence in his singing or acting skills.
There was another gal in the play who was serious about acting, so her mom called in a New York talent agent to see her perform.
The agent thought she was okay. Yet she lacked the luster he looked for.
But he saw that special sparkle in Tommy.
The agent spoke with him after the show and said he should come study in New York.
Just three years later, little Tommy debuted in his first movie, with a famous scene dancing in his underwear.
Except Tommy didn’t go by his last name any more. “Mapother” just isn’t a cool movie name.
So he used his middle name: Cruise. And Tom Cruise’s passionate love story with movies was born.
Which goes to show, you can have horribly painful setbacks, while life is leading you all the while to your destiny.
All the pain you’ve been through has been for a purpose. Your Mr. Right is still out there.
Now reply back and share… What hurt is making it hard to share your heart again?
To sharing your life with The One,
Milan
